The voice resounds, clear, firm, joyful. ” Hello, Herb Alpert here ! At the other end of the line, a kind of chuckle, saliva swallowed too quickly: the journalist cannot repress the fan. “Herb Alpert! Amazing ! Tit for tat, the reply slams live from Los Angeles: “Incredible! You are there ! We are here ! A little silence. For a bit, there would be at this moment, precisely at this moment, Hal Blaine’s drums which would score eight beats and presto! Starting roll: A Taste of Honeyby Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass.
“We had to erase it, this count, leave the space empty, recalls Alpert. But I insisted on keeping it in the mix. I thought it increased the suspense: even if it was only planned as a B-side of 45 rpm, it had to be incredible, right? ” That’s the word. Oh that’s the word! The incredible figures parade like the stock market prices in Times Square, the 75 million albums scattered around the world (proof: there are some in ALL the garage sales), the colossal fortune approaching the billion American dollars , the trophy guard of honor, the Billboard chart subscription. Without forgetting the endless list of artists who recorded between 1962 and 1987 under the A&M Records banner, the company of which Herb Alpert was the A and Jerry Moss the M (let’s name only Burt Bacharach, the Carpenters, Cat Stevens, Billy Preston, Strawbs, Supertramp, The Police, Joe Jackson, Peter Frampton… and the Sex Pistols!). Amazing ? A hundredfold.
A pressing need
“The most incredible thing for me is to feel reborn each time, on stage. And to see and hear my companion, Lani Hall, by my side for half a century. At 88, I am blessed: the body holds, the breath follows, the desire is growing! Of course, in the morning, the newspaper knocks me down with the weight of bad news in the world, I am not immune to suffering and injustice, on the contrary. But I’m lucky enough to be able to go to my studio: I grab my trumpet, I blow a few notes, and my state of mind changes. I want to act, to reproduce for people what it produces in me: a galvanizing effect. »
Thursday, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, with a small group of musicians in cool jazzy mode, Lani and he will share some 25 titles, his own successes, his own successes — Lani Hall is one of the two fabulous singers of the famous Brasil 66 of Sergio Mendes, it should be remembered. Essentials, but also tunes that they simply want to perform: “You know, it’s all there, in this irrepressible need to live and do good by doing good thanks to the incredible repertoire of songs — not just ours! — in which we dive. Of course we have the means to do nothing, Paul McCartney too, but it turns out that we like to play. We absolutely want to play. And not just for ourselves. »
From Sam Cooke to Louis Armstrong, a wonderful world
It is an immortal of Louis Armstrong who launches the show: What a Wonderful World. Is it a nod to Wonderful World, the 1959 song, fruit of a collaboration of Alpert with Lou Adler, his partner at the time, and the interpreter Sam Cooke? “I realized it afterwards: I wanted the universal message of Louis Armstrong’s song to be at the forefront. But it’s true that it becomes in a way the symbol of a journey. It’s still incredible to think that we were able, from the start, to be sung by such a wonderful and soulful than Sam Cooke. He taught us so much in such a short time…”
“And it also reminds me of the incredible happiness of having crossed paths with Louis Armstrong. My idol ! The best trumpeter in the world! To meet him was to understand that his way of playing the trumpet corresponded exactly to the human being he was. I was interviewing him for a TV show, live. During a commercial break, I asked him if his relatives also called him Satchmo or if he had another nickname in private. He leaned over to me and said, “They call me Irving !” And he laughed his immense laugh. »
Inside Charlie Chaplin’s house
Herb Alpert’s trumpet playing, of formidable efficiency, is engraved in the basic score of the 1960s. Lonely Bull, Mexican Shuffle, Tijuana Taxi and other delicacies. Extreme example, the rustling spanish flea was requisitioned for the game show The Dating Game and popularized a sparkling genre that proliferated even in pubs. One wonders how he was able to lead this sparkling career while managing such a dynamic and respected record company. “Let’s say Jerry Moss has a lot to do with it. He is the businessman. Me, I liked artists. And I wanted them to be treated well. I had been badly served when I started out, exploited like everyone else, and I wanted it to be possible to do otherwise. »
The building itself exuded good taste, an opulence without ostentation. “It was Charlie Chaplin’s house, anyway, originally. The floor of Studio A was above Charlie’s pool! It served as an echo chamber, it was great. Good vibes! George Harrison, who launched the Dark Horse Records label after breaking free from Apple, was a frequent visitor. “We had the distribution license. But it was also to have a little chat with Olivia Arias, one of our secretaries. They got married, finally, and they had Dhani, a beautiful son! I got to know George a little better thanks to this happy circumstance: he was an incredibly honest person, without the slightest pretension. In showbiz, this degree of humility is exceptional. He taught me a lot, too. »
Trumpeter… and singer, once!
Also featured in Thursday’s show are songs from Herb’s most recent albums (Sunny Side of the Street) as much as Lani (Seasons of Love) “That too is a need. To feel present in the present. And in the successes that we revive, there is always a little leeway. Not one version is the same. The songs also must blow! Obviously, he will not ignore This Guy’s in Love with You, great success of 1968, the sung exception of his life as a trumpeter. “It was a funny idea. Burt Bacharach was a great friend, Hal David and he had this very intimate song. Dionne Warwick had previously recorded the song, with her incredible voice. Me, I sang it for fun, without any other intention. I didn’t really sing it, in fact, I hummed it to myself. In the studio, Burt played the piano, did the orchestration. I recorded a guide take, almost mumbled. Upon doing it again, Burt said, “No, no, that’s exactly it!” »
Herb Alpert chuckles. “You know, in music, you never know what’s going to hit. It took a good month and the initiative of many disc jockeys for me to understand what people liked so much about A Taste of Honey, this side B of Third Man’s Theme. The B became A for subsequent editions and, shortly after, we played A Taste of Honey at theEd Sullivan Show. Without Hal Blaine, studio musician. Tijuana Brass drummer Nick Ceroli learned the arrangement, with all eight beats pressed. For eternity. Incredible but true.